Charms
by wannabewyler
Summary: Written for Charms Class in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments)
1. Singing Toads

Charming toads so that they sung was a new one for Flitwick. They'd charmed things to levitate and dance as well as changing colour and other things that he thought the class would find useful in their future. But singing toads? James had never even _thought _about toads singing.

Okay, _that _was a lie.

It had been one time in fourth year. But he hadn't told anyone about that particular dream.

James shuddered at the reminder of his dream and glared at the silent toad on his desk. He couldn't bring himself to make it sing; what would he make it sing anyway? A love song to Lily? Yeah, that would go down well.

He looked up at the girl in question, only a seat in front of him, and frowned as both Alice and herself cooed at the small, slimy animals that were currently singing a duet.

"What's so fascinating about toads?" Sirius wondered from beside him, his wand twirling between his fingers as the toad in front of him started to sing The Beatles. It had been a song choice inspired by Remus' own toad who was also singing a song by The Beatles, however his was considered better since it was also dancing. Peter, bless his toad, had charmed his to sing about food – breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert and snacks. "I mean, they're slimy and gross." Sirius carried on and Alice, after hearing this, turned around with a glare.

"Toads are wonderful animals Black, and one day, my son will have one as a pet." Sirius snorted with disbelief but didn't argue with her any further. Lily was still smiling at their toads and James was left to wonder – what _was _fascinating about toads? Sirius was right; they _were _slimy and gross but as he saw the sparks of excitement and happiness in Lily's eyes, he guessed that there was more to them than met the eye.

Glancing at the toad in front of him, he swished his wand with the correct movements and smiled softly as the toad started singing a soft love ballad. It wasn't overly loud but it was gentle and sweet, somehow managing to gain the attention of more than a few students in the class as the romantic words erupted from his tiny little throat.

He glanced around and took note of how all the girls in the class were glassy eyed and smiling at the sweetness coming from his animal. For a moment he felt guilt at managing to snag the attention of every single girl, some from their animal whilst the others were from their own boyfriends, but it was only passing when he noticed how Lily was sat there giving him an appraising look.

She smirked at him, rolling her eyes, before changing the tune on her own toad and lifting it with her hands to sit next to his. Lily had made her own toad duet with his and the outcome was glorious.

Singing toads weren't that bad after all; especially when they weren't singing about ways to kill you.

**Word count: 512**

**Written for Charms Class in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments) **_Write about a Marauder in a Charms lesson._

**Extras:**

**(word) **_sparks_

**(speech) **_"What's so fascinating about toads?"_

**(emotion) **_guilt_


	2. Wingardium Leviosa

**Prompts used: (word) **_**beautiful – **_**(word)**_** table – **_**(restriction) **_**no mention of Harry Potter **__**– **_**(speech) **_**"it's called **_**magic."**

Hermione Granger was beautiful when she worked her magic. Literally. Her uncontrollable bush of hair was tugged into a ponytail that frizzed out behind her like a peacock's feathers, and boy did it attract Draco Malfoy to her every time. Her sleeves would be rolled up on her arms, the cuffs over the sleeves of her jumper and a silver necklace disappearing beneath her blouse. If it was a complicated spell, or she was required to write a lot, her brow would furrow with concentration and her small, pink tongue would peep out the side of her mouth. Her eyes would dance with excitement over her words or the object she was charming and her cheeks would emit a healthy glow when she satisfied with how everything turned out.

Leaning on the table in front of him, Draco's eyes flickered to the board which clearly labelled the spell that they would be doing today.

_Wingardium Leviosa._

Draco cursed it and listened to the curses of his friend, Blaise Zabini, beside him. "This is child play!" Blaise hissed, waving his wand about with annoyance. "We learnt this in first year." Draco nodded but felt some disagreement with his fellow Slytherin; NEWTs were coming up soon and Flitwick was only revising spells so that they were prepared. He wasn't going to say that though. Merlin no. He was a Slytherin after all.

"Granger's done it already." Theodore Nott commented, leaning forward so that they could hear him. "Bloody know it all." Blaise mumbled his agreement and Draco snorted, rolling his eyes.

"She's an amazing witch and this is an easy spell, is it such a surprise that she's done it already?" When he noticed looks from nearby tables and confused furrows on his friend's faces, he realised that maybe he said it a bit too loud and with a bit too much passion. "But she's just a mudblood anyway." Draco added as an afterthought but even he could tell that there was no hatred or venom in that sentence and Granger must have heard because she shot him a smirk over her shoulder.

Merlin did she look attractive.

Blaise snorted with amusement, aware of the slight crush that his friend held for the Gryffindor princess but enjoying how the Slytherin prince would attempt to cover it up with rude jibes like he had in the past. A glare from Professor Flitwick had the Italian reaching for his wand, not wanting to anger the small teacher, and proceeded to attempt the spell.

Nothing happened to the feather.

Draco and Theo snickered beside him and he shot them a look before trying again; the feather proceeded to roll on its side.

"Childs play Zabini?" Hermione asked, her voice filled with amusement and when he looked up, her face was filled with barely contained laughter. "And here I was thinking that it was an easy spell." Blaise heard Theo muffle his roar of laughter and a glance back confirmed that Draco did have a face of absolute adoration.

"It's an easy spell Granger, you're stopping me aren't you? That's why I can't do it." She smirked and raised her empty hands, her wand on the desk behind her before motioning for him to try again.

He still couldn't do it.

"Oh Mr Zabini, it seems you're struggling." Flitwick's voice rung out in his ear. "I'll assign someone to help you." Before the Slytherin could even open his mouth and protest, he'd already been assigned a helper. "Ah, Miss Granger, you'll be able to help Mr Zabini here, won't you?"

She looked at him over the head of their teacher and shot him a wink. "Absolutely Professor, consider Blaise taught."

Blaise could hear Draco's sniggering as well now.

Blaise waited till Flitwick had walked away before turning a glare on Hermione. "No." He shook his head. "No, I don't need your help. Run along."

"Look Blaise, my feather is floating." Theo exclaimed and the Italian whirled in his seat to watch his friend levitate his feather; a gleeful look on his face as if he'd never done the spell successfully before. "Maybe you should try again and prove that you don't need Granger's help." Blaise grumbled but tried the spell again, to no success and he kept his head down, ignoring the knowing looks that were being shot his way.

"Maybe you should let Granger help you Blaise, can't go wrong when she's helping." Draco suggested, his own feather floating alongside Theo's. "I know I'd accept her help." When Theo shot him a raised eyebrow whilst their feathers floated back onto the table, he quickly changed his tune. "Begrudgingly of course because hey, mudblood over there." Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes before whipping out her wand and doing the spell.

Blaise's feather rose, as well as Theo's and Draco's alongside their quills and parchment. Everything on top of their table floated, all of them under Hermione's spell.

"What?"

"How?"

"Wow."

The three Slytherins were in shock and gradually the whole class quietened down as they noticed the spectacle at the Slytherin desk. Hermione was smirking, a knowing and mischievous sparkle in her eyes and a healthy glow to her face.

"How on earth did you manage to do that?" Blaise gasped, never having seen such a thing before. She smirked again and leant forward.

"It's called _magic." _She whispered, winking before leaning back and starting to teach Blaise the basics on the childs play spell.

Looking at the glow she was emitting, Blaise could totally understand Draco's crush.


	3. Smugius Malfoy

If Rose Weasley was being honest with herself, she was getting stressed. If she was lying to herself, she was doing perfectly well and was merely taking her time; she didn't have to prove anything. Well, that was what she told herself to stop her from crying with frustration. It was her first lesson of Charms with Professor Flitwick; she had _everything _to prove. This was the moment when Hermione, her mother, had proven that she was fully capable of magic and better than most despite her blood status. This was also the moment that Ron, her father, had proven that he wasn't as good as Hermione.

If Rose wanted to take after anyone about now, it would definitely be her mother.

"Wingardium Leviosa." Rose said confidently, a façade for sure, and waved her wand in the correct motion. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Well that was always good. "Wingardium Leviosa!" She exclaimed a bit louder, praying that she just was a bit too quiet. Zero movement from the blasted feather on her table.

If Rose Weasley was being honest with herself, she was angry. She was daughter to the brightest witch of her generation and child of two parts of the Golden Trio; she should be able to perform a levitation charm. _Should_ being the operative word.

A note was shoved in front of her and she ignored it completely, deciding that Scorpius Malfoy was not worth her time – especially if the stories of past Malfoy's told by her father were anything to go by. Of course these stories were always told when Hermione or Harry weren't around. "Wingardium Leviosa." Nothing again. Rose growled, her hands gripping her hair tightly as she tried to reign in her anger. Malfoy took the note back and she assumed he'd given up but it appeared before her only seconds later and she grumbled with annoyance but ignored it.

Scorpius Malfoy was smug. Whole-heartedly smug and not embarrassed by it at all. In Herbology this morning, he'd laughed and not shown any care about the small Hufflepuff boy who had fainted at the sight of some of the plants in the greenhouses and he'd laughed even harder when a pot of soil tipped over, knocking the earth onto his unconscious face. He'd stood by and hadn't helped him get up afterwards.

In their next lesson, Divination, he had laughed horribly when Albus Potter made a fool of himself, tripping over his bag and falling into Rose who then promptly spilt her tea in his hair with shock. His tea leaves had told him that he was going to fall.

In Transfiguration after lunch, Scorpius had laughed and taken the mick out of some poor Ravenclaw girls who were late since they had gotten lost within the castle's corridors. Their Professor hadn't been impressed at both him and the Ravenclaws and the rest of the lesson was tense as their strict Professor was immediately angry and snappy.

Now in Charms, Smugius Malfoy – Rose snorted at her play with words – was turning his attention to her. She could just imagine the side creasing laugh that he'd be having, silent due to how hard he was enjoying her failure. A glance at the note made her rethink what she had initially believed.

_I can help you if you'd like._

Well of course he could help her, he'd managed to levitate the stupid feather within minutes of being told what to do and how to do it.

_You're flicking your wrist too much._

Well she didn't believe _that _for a second. She was only copying Professor Flitwick's movements and he hadn't been failing. Maybe she should reply, demanding why he was butting in. Yes, that was what she was going to do and so she grabbed her quill to write out an angry response. But she didn't know what to say and if she should say it.

She'd heard from Aunt Ginny that on their first day at Hogwarts, Harry had declined a friend request with Draco Malfoy – Scorpius' dad – and the pair had a rivalry throughout their whole time at the school. Did she want that?

"Are you going to reply any time today?" A voice whispered to her side and she jumped, remembering that she was meant to be writing a response back to the Slytherin boy beside her. "Because I believe we have ten minutes of practice alone before Flitwick over there is going to put us all on the spot and it'll be less humiliating if you let me help you." She snorted but turned herself to face him and motioned for him to take the lead.

He gripped his wand, pointing at the feather and cast the spell to slowly lift the feather off the table. Before she could even congratulate him or mutter something rude, he had turned and grabbed her arm to show her the movement herself. His movement was _definitely _different to how she'd been doing it. "Try it now." He said and smiled gently at her, showing off a dimple on his right cheek.

Taking a deep breath, Rose calmly tried the spell again and laughed in delight when the feather started to rise slowly. It worked! She'd done it! With a little help from Smugius, who wasn't being smug at all. One glance at his face revealed a smug looking smirk and she rolled her eyes. So he was being a little bit smug.

Maybe Smugius – _Scorpius _ – Malfoy wasn't so bad.

**Word count: 912**

**Written for Charms Class in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments) **_Write about someone in their first Charms lesson._

**Extras: **

**(emotion) **_anger_

**(speech) **_"Are you going to reply anytime today?"_

**(word) **_quill_


	4. Secrets Revealed

_**(character) **_**Draco Malfoy – **_**(word) **_**candles – **_**(emotion) **_**sadness**

The Head Girl was hiding something. That was clearly obvious. Potter could tell, Weasel could tell, Longbottom could tell; they weren't the brightest of wizards. So it was fairly obvious that the Head Boy was going to notice.

Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger had formed an odd friendship once returning to Hogwarts from the war. The Golden Trio had all returned and Draco was the first to walk over, giving them his apologies and thanks. Hermione had hugged him, shocking all four, but he'd hugged back and they'd been speaking on terms since. Harry and Draco had struck up an also odd friendship, being civil to each other when in public but finding themselves talking about their lives when alone.

Draco confided in Harry first about his growing feelings for the bushy muggleborn that he'd come to care for.

Ron and Draco were a different matter. Ron had been reluctant to forget his old grudge against the Slytherin whilst Draco couldn't seem to care anymore. Hostility was the only thing left between the two.

"I'm tutoring a couple of first years in Transfiguration until this evening." Hermione called as she ran down her dormitory stairs before abruptly leaving the Head's common room bringing him back to his beginning point. She was hiding something. First year tutoring was always on a Monday afternoon, not a Wednesday evening. He waited till the portrait shut loudly and he heard the mermaid complain about the splashes from her water before he made a move to follow her.

He watched her go in the opposite direction to the library and frowned when she went past all the Transfiguration classrooms before heading towards the Astronomy tower. Draco knew then that he was going to find out what was going on regardless of whether Hermione was willing or not.

Following, quietly and stealthily, up the staircase, Draco was starting to worry that he might see her with some secret boyfriend. He wasn't sure he could handle that. Once at the top, poking his head around a wall, he noticed her sitting alone. Relief filled him until he heard the small sniffling that sounded from her.

Walking forward to comfort her, avoiding the candles that she'd lit, he moved to sit just behind her. "You want to talk about it?" She shook her head, her hair falling down around her face like a curtain. "It might help." She snorted and showed him the photo. A photo of an attractive woman and man holding the most adorable baby he'd ever seen.

"These two adults died." She commented once he'd stared at it long enough. "Left the child alone." He opened his mouth to comment but apparently she'd opened the doors and wasn't willing to stop. "I obliviated them for their safety you know? In a war and I didn't want them to get killed just to get at me. I sent them to Australia so they were safe and free." Draco didn't know why she would obliviate somebody else's parents because of the war but he was going to listen. "They were safe and happy. But then I returned their memories, not an easy task I tell you, and they were angry. So very angry." She sniffled, wiped her nose and laughed without humour. "They were so angry that they disowned their daughter. A child who has fought in a war and been tortured in someone's home; a child who is sent away to a boarding school for nearly a whole year and _saved their lives." _Her voice had raised as she got further into her explanation and Draco realised that the baby in the picture was _her _and the adults were her parents.

"They were just worried that you had to go into a war on your own and they were completely oblivious." Draco commented, sliding himself closer and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "I'd be mad if my child obliviated me and my wife to protect us but I'd understand eventually. It was to protect me and they took a risk that could've left them without parents for the rest of their lives." Hermione sniffled, shoving her head against Draco's neck. "They'll come around."

"They got hit by a car. Died instantly." She informed him, sobs wracking her body again. "They died an hour after telling me that they never wanted to see me again because they were outrageously disappointed. Not only did I let them down, but I can never earn their forgiveness."

Draco didn't know what to say. Seeing Hermione sad was hurting him but seeing her like this – distraught and empty – it was killing him.

"I'm sorry Hermione. I know that doesn't make it any better and I can't do much for you but they were only words of anger. Once they'd have cooled down, they would've apologised and everything would be fine." She didn't say anything but he noticed her sobs quieten. "I'll be here to help you get through it."

"You'll be here for me?" He kissed her forehead and pulled her closer.

"Nowhere else I'd be."


End file.
